WHERE WE LIVE; Before the Knockdown, A Knockout Sale

By JILL P. CAPUZZO

Published: April 2, 2006

ON a sunny Saturday morning last month, Donna Windley was busy removing the six-panel entry door from the front of a 1960's ranch house, while Chris Merkler pried a circuit-breaker panel out of a wall and Bill Renner considered the kitchen cabinets.

The front door would soon find its way to the house of Ms. Windley's mother in Point Pleasant; the breaker panel and kitchen cabinets were bound for rental properties in Belmar owned by Mr. Merkler and by Mr. Renner.

These Jersey Shore residents were doing what might be called extreme recycling: buying parts of houses before their demolition, then using them for their own purposes.

The process is made possible through a program of Coastal Habitat for Humanity, a nonprofit group in Monmouth County that runs demolition sales at homes about to be knocked down, selling everything from toilets to tiling, lighting to landscaping.

Proceeds are used to buy construction materials for new houses that the chapter, which is an affiliate of the national organization, builds for local families in need.

''It's a win-win-win situation,'' said Jean Badgely, a chairwoman of the demolition sales program. ''People can buy things very inexpensively. The homeowners get a tax write-off. And all the money goes to Habitat for Humanity.''

While other Habitat for Humanity affiliates have tried their hand at the demolition recycling business, the Monmouth County chapter has it down to a science. It helps, of course, to be in a real estate market where the value of land often outstrips the value of the 30- or 40-year-old house that sits on it, driving owners to replace modest Cape Cod bungalows with three-story super shore homes.

''We have some very affluent towns, and because they're shore communities, people who have a little bit more money are able to come in and buy these older homes and knock them down and build new, beautiful homes,'' said Maureen Mulligan, executive director of Coastal Habitat for Humanity.

Now in its fourth year, the demolition program is more active than ever, with sales being held year round, in Ocean County as well as Monmouth. In fact, the sales are fast becoming one of Coastal Habitat for Humanity's most important funding sources. To date the program has raised $130,000, about enough to build two new homes with volunteer labor on donated land, Ms. Badgely said.

The organization gives homeowners a letter confirming the donation, which they can use to help them determine the value of any charitable tax deduction. Another advantage is a reduction in waste removal charges. But perhaps the biggest benefit is the peace of mind that comes with knowing that not everything will be laid to waste.

Carol Tuzzio said she had come to terms with the idea of tearing down her childhood home on Ocean Avenue in Spring Lake, but the demolition sale made the process a little easier.

''I hated to see the house torn down with all that was in it,'' said Ms. Tuzzio, who was shocked, nevertheless, when she saw people removing wood flooring and shower doors at the February demolition sale.

Ms. Tuzzio's civic spirit went one step further. The day after the sale, she let the Spring Lake fire department run practice drills in her house, setting off smoke bombs, breaking windows and scaling the roof. Three days later, the house was demolished. A year from now, the Tuzzio family expects to move into its new cedar-shingled beach house.

Karen Piacentini was also resigned to the demolition of the house in Brielle that she had lived in for the last five years with her husband, Timothy. While customers ripped apart the inside of her house, two bulldozers sat in the yard, ready to get to work following the sale. The Piacentinis plan to build a new home on the property.

''You want to do something good for someone,'' Ms. Piacentini said as she watched shoppers dig up plants from her front yard. ''Plus it's recycling, so you're not throwing everything into the trash.''

Before the sale, the homeowners' only responsibility is to make sure the utilities are shut off. But for those with emotional ties to their homes, witnessing the process can be a bit jarring.

First, Habitat volunteers come in and assess the house, setting a value on every removable part. Prices are written on the walls with black markers: baseboard molding for 50 cents a foot, window shades for $2, lighted bathroom vanity for $30.

On the day of the sale, the volunteers collect the money and, by the end of the day, negotiate the prices. But it is the shoppers who do all the hard labor; buyers are urged to bring their own tools and stepladders. Less experienced customers often find themselves being rescued by the regulars.

''A lot of people borrow your tools,'' said Mr. Renner, a building contractor who has a sideline buying and renovating properties in Belmar, which he then rents or resells.

Over the years, Mr. Renner has rehabilitated 10 properties, with much of the materials coming from Habitat demolition sales. Within a half-hour of arriving at the sale in Brielle, Mr. Renner had bought a bathroom vanity and toilet, kitchen cabinets and an air-conditioner, all for $350.

''You're paying 5 percent of what it would cost you new,'' he said. ''And if you can wait it out till the end of the day, you can find a vanity that was originally going for $65 go down to $5.''

A stock analyst by day, Mr. Merkler has also gotten into real estate rehabilitation as a sideline, having fixed up four Belmar properties. In addition to the electrical panel, he picked up an electric range at the sale for his parents. When his sister, Liz, replaces her ranch house in Spring Lake with a colonial in the next couple of years, the design of her new home will focus on the Spanish wrought-iron staircase she bought for $300 at a demolition sale this winter. The staircase now sits in her garage.

''I'll build my house around it,'' said Ms. Merkler, a dentist in Manasquan.

In order to be one of the first people inside the sale, where she got the staircase and two stained-glass windows, Ms. Merkler was up at 6:30 a.m. and standing in front of the oceanfront mansion in Spring Lake soon thereafter.

She is a regular at the sales, which Ms. Mulligan said help provide exposure for Coastal Habitat for Humanity.

''It's become a great marketing tool for us,'' Ms. Mulligan said. ''People who might not know too much about us come to one of the sales and then they end up donating to us, or volunteering.''

Over the last 10 years, volunteers working with Coastal Habitat for Humanity have built 10 new homes for low-income families in Monmouth County. Last month, the group began excavating ground for an 11th home, in Neptune.

For information on the demolition sales, contact Coastal Habitat for Humanity at (732) 974-2422 or www.coastalhabitat.org.

Photos: John Schaad of Brick, above, removing curtains he bought for $10 at a demolition sale at the house, far left, of Karen and Timothy Piacentini in Brielle. Patricia Christensen, left, carrying away items she bought at the sale for $5. (Photographs by Joseph J. Delconzo for The New York Times)